The Tlaxcala Alliance: How Cortés Won Mexico

When Hernán Cortés landed on the Mexican coast in 1519, he had 508 soldiers, 16 horses, and a few cannons. Yet within two years he had toppled the Aztec Empire. The key was not Spanish steel or gunpowder, but a massive indigenous alliance, above all with the republic of Tlaxcala. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how Cortés blundered into a war with Tlaxcala, nearly lost everything, then turned defeat into his greatest asset. They examine the bitter history between Tlaxcala and the Mexica, the bloody battles of September 1519, the tense negotiations that followed, and the 200,000 Tlaxcalan warriors who would march on Tenochtitlan. They also consider the aftermath: Tlaxcala's privileged status under Spanish rule, and a haunting question about indigenous agency in the conquest. Featuring the Otomí captain Xicotencatl the Younger, the Nahuatl chronicler Chimalpahin, and the Florentine Codex. #Tlaxcala #CortS #Tenochtitlan #AztecEmpire #Mexica #SpanishConquest #Xicotencatl #FlorentineCodex #Chimalpahin #Malinche #Nahuatl #Otom #Mesoamerica #16thCentury #IndigenousHistory #MilitaryAlliance #ConquestOfMexico #History #MoctezumaII #HernanCortes Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo